Effect of Micronutrients on Yield and Uptake of Micronutrients at Different Levels of Fertility

The effect of micronutrients on the yield and uptake of micronutrients in paddy variety IR-8 was studied at four levels of fertility in pot culture. Total dry matter yield increased with increasing levels of fertility. The interaction between fertility levels and micronutrient treatments had significant effect on dry matter yield. At higher levels of fertility application of manganese, copper, molybdenum and mixture of micronutrients generally increased the dry matter yield, whereas at lower levels their effect was not apparent.

Total uptake of manganese, copper, molybdenum, zinc and iron increased with increasing levels of fertility indicating higher rates of depletion with increasing yield and heavy application of fertilizers. Application of copper and molybdenum increased the uptake of copper and molybdenum respectively; while manganese, zinc and iron had no effect on their uptake. Application of iron and manganese increased the total uptake of copper significantly over control. Antagonistic effect of copper and molybdenum was observed only at low fertility level while at higher fertility levels applied copper increased the uptake of molybdenum significantly.